First step
by MistyMisty
Summary: Trigon is defeated. Raven is now free to spend the rest of her life with her friends. Friendship/Romance. RavenxRobin
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Titans.

* * *

First step

"_Sha la la la la la"_

Ugh.

"_My oh my, looks like the boy's too shy, ain't gonna kiss the girl"_

Raven was trying so hard to get this song out of her mind.

"_Sha la la la la la" _

She tried to distract herself by reading a book. She even tried to meditate.

But the song kept repeating itself in her mind.

"_Ain't that sad, it's such a shame, too bad, you're gonna miss the girl"_

She was getting embarrassed now. She tried again by counting the number of pages of the book she was holding.

"_Don't stop now, don't try to hide it how you wanna kiss the girl"_

But still she couldn't get rid of the song. Instead it kept screaming at her as if she had eaten a gramophone for lunch.

"_Go on and kiss the girl, kiss the girl"_

She knew she was wasting her time. "At least listening to BeastBoy wouldn't be so bad". Finally she accepted defeat, giving up on her vague attempts. Clutching the book to her chest, Raven stood up to go to the main hall.

* * *

"Hey" The masked leader greeted her as Raven entered the main hall.

But she didn't take any effort to reply. She obviously didn't want to take her anger out on her leader. "…not because I'm afraid of him" Raven confirmed herself.

She wouldn't mind beating BeastBoy into a pulp. Raven couldn't stand Beastboy. He was very annoying. At least she could enjoy the look on his face. But Robin was harmless.

"Well…most of the time."

"When he isn't teasing anyone….or beating anyone" She added.

Yes, he always tried to avoid making her angry.

"Maybe HE is scared of me" Raven was satisfied.

Smiling to herself, she settled down on the couch and opened her book.

"Hey" Robin greeted her again.

"What?"

"I thought you didn't hear me"

"I heard you before, birdbrain" Raven replied impatiently.

"You should have replied then."

She chose to ignore his comment. When did Robin start annoying her?

"Do you want to try?" Seeing that he wasn't getting any reply, Robin tried again pointing at the remote control. He knew Raven hated video games. But he didn't want to miss his chance.

"Can't you see that I'm reading a book?" _Well… trying to read…_

"Why don't you join me?" Robin offered.

"…. for a change?" He added again.

"No thank you" She replied showing her irritation.

Unfortunately, Robin decided not to give up.

"Do you want to play chess?"

"No"

"Scrabble?"

"NO"

"Checkers?"

"Tic-tac-toe?"

"I said NO" Raven managed to shout through gritted teeth still maintaining her monotonous voice. She felt her anger rising through her body. Oh, yeah, she couldn't even meditate today.

"Hangman?"

"Fine, I'll give you a word to find, and you'll let me read my book till you find that word. Deal?"

"Deal"

Robin knew he was risking his life. He even knew that he would get a long and difficult word to find. And he also knew that he would end up asking Raven for the answer eventually. At least Raven agreed to do something he asked without hurting him.

He admitted that there were sometimes that he thought Raven should allow others to see her true self. But she seemed to be content living in her own world. Therefore, he didn't force her to come out of her shell. But now Raven was his best friend. He never thought that, out of his teammates, Raven would ever understand him. Raven was mysterious…and quiet. But he knew that Raven cared for others. So he wanted to help his best friend. And he enjoyed every second he spent with Raven.

Raven was a puzzle. And he enjoyed solving puzzles. It was simple.

Robin Smiled.

"Here you go" Raven said holding a piece of paper. Robin came closer and took the paper from Raven.

He almost cried when he looked at the paper.

There were 12 letters in the word. And only the first letter and the last letter were given as clues.

Seeing his disappointment, Raven could not help but smirk.

"Are you sure it's a real word?"

"Are you accusing me of lying?" Raven asked dramatically. Robin couldn't decide how to respond. Instead he scowled at her and concentrated on the word. He knew he was asking for his death when he challenged Raven to a game. But he couldn't blame anyone. After all it was his doing.

Raven was satisfied with herself. Now she could read the book without any interruption.

After two hours….

"Raven?"

Silence…

"Raven?"

"hmm?"

"Fine, I give up."

Raven looked up. She smiled at Robin's confused expression. Oh, how she loved teasing her leader.

"You really do have a bird-brain, don't you?"

"Thanks" Robin was obviously upset. He turned his attention again to the video game. He only wanted to spend his time with her. But he had lost.

Raven saw Robin's uneasiness. She knew Robin was only trying to be friendly. But she always liked to keep herself away from others. No one dared to invade her privacy. But after getting rid of Trigon, such things changed slightly. After what he had gone through for her, she owed Robin her life. Raven felt bad for him.

So she finally decided to let him win.

"It's your turn" She smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

The second step

Disclaimer – I do not own Teen Titans.

* * *

"Will you cut that out?" Raven asked impatiently.

"Huh?" Robin had no idea what she was talking about. He was so caught up with his work that he even forgot he was not alone in the main hall.

"Have you ever learned tap dancing?" Raven asked him sarcastically trying to keep her cool.

"No..?"

"Then stop tapping your feet. It's annoying."

"Um...I'm sorry?" He felt insulted.

Raven shrugged and turned away.

Robin sighed silently and decided to get back to work. He tried lamely to concentrate on his work. He failed to figure out the reason why Raven seemed to be irritated these days even by the smallest thing he did. And he never meant to make her angry. Even BeastBoy refused to make eye contacts with her. He truly believed that Raven wouldn't hesitate to eat him alive if he looked at her in the eye. Everybody had tried to explain to him that Raven would never do something like that to one of her friends.

"…_she wouldn't, would she?"_

He sighed again.

"Would you stop that, please?" Raven managed to ask quietly even though she felt like screaming at top of her lungs. She was restless, distracted and confused. _Something_ was bothering her inner peace though she couldn't pinpoint the exact reason.

"…_or someone"_ Raven shivered at her own thoughts.

"Stop sighing like it is the end of the world." She added tightening her grip on her book grudgingly.

"Rae..."

"Don't call me that!"

He sighed again.

* * *

Next morning…

The Titan family was getting ready for breakfast.

Raven was already having a bad morning. She was _forced _to go shopping with Starfire by Cyborg and BeastBoy. They were planning for a surprise party.

"_All because of Robin" _she thought looking at her steaming cup.

Lately, Raven had been feeling restless around Robin. She could feel her heart spinning faster and faster whenever Robin looked at her. She could feel fireworks in her stomach when he seated himself next to her. His presence made her squeal like a girl. _He_ made her feel like running barefoot on sand. Raven got distracted by the tiniest sound he made when he was tapping his feet or swearing to himself.

Raven slapped herself mentally. 

_"I'll get my revenge later."_

Crushing all her feelings , she decided to distract herself by reading a book.

Robin was also having a bad morning. Everyone else was excited; Cyborg was hoping to visit Titans east, BeastBoy was invited to an exhibition dedicated for 'animal lovers' and Starfire was happy because Raven had finally agreed to go shopping with her. But Robin was stuck inside the tower. And he hated it. Loneliness made him feel chopped, crushed and shaken.

He looked down at his cereal.

"ROBIN!!!" Robin nearly fell off his chair at Raven's yell.

"What?"

"Stop gobbling. It's really irritating"

Robin looked at Raven apologetically. He felt like a servant in his own tower. But he promised himself that he'd get through the day without driving her mad.

"Robin! You're tapping your foot again! Stop it now or I'll end up in the asylum."

"I'm sorry"

He apologized again offering Raven a side-glance. He shivered slightly when he saw the title of the book Raven was holding; 'The Ruthless Defender of Vampires: Count Dracula'

He would never make her angry again.

* * *

Robin was bored. It was already midnight and he was all alone in the tower. After going through all the TV channels, he was surprised that he couldn't find anything worthwhile to watch. As much as he hated to admit it, he despised being alone. He had got used to Beastboy's screams, Cyborg's remarks, Starfire's giggles and Raven's threats. They were his only family. He had lost his parents when he was young. He didn't want to see it happening again. He loved his Titan family so much that he felt like he was the father of his Titan family. It was his responsibility to make sure that everyone was alright. Beastboy was the youngest one in their family; playing silly pranks on others. Cyborg and Starfire were the eldest siblings; always looking out for each other.

"_And Raven? She wouldn't fit into the role of a mother." _Robin laughed at himself for thinking about such a thing. It was ridiculous. Raven would make a horrible mother. He frowned when he couldn't figure out the place Raven held in_ his_ family. While thinking, he fell asleep.

"ROBIN!"

Robin snapped out of his dream as Cyborg, BeastBoy, Starfire and Raven shouted in unison.

"I didn't do anything" He sweated.

But the other Titans didn't seem to care. And before Robin could say anything, they shouted again.

"HAPPY B'DAY ROBIN!"

Among all the excitement, he missed Raven's smirk.


End file.
